9 Month Birthiversary

This month I copied our friend Jodi's cookie idea for this month's cupcake theme. Only two more months of trying to find ways to keep her out of the cupcakes!

Our Muncher at 9 Months!

Nicknames: Munchkin, Munch, Muncher, Munchnolia, Mags, Magno, Mañolia, Baby

This month it seemed like she did not have any huge milestones; it was more a month of refining previously learned skills.

Magnolia showed no movitivation to walk. She has been quite content with her rapid crawling skills and ability to confidently pull herself to standing just about any where. In fact when we've tried to help her, her independent nature swelled up because she can do it faster on her own.

Our active little lady did start sitting still for short periods this month due to her increased interest in reading books rather than chewing them.

Her social personality continued to shine as she waved at almost everyone in public, often without solicitation.

Magnolia's kisses became more selective. If she ignored our request for a kiss, Brian and I would kiss each other in front of her. It often did the trick and enticed her to give us both kisses. However, she has become tricksy herself. Every once in a while when a kiss was requested, she would lean in, then pull away and quickly give her kiss to the other nonsoliciting parent!

Maggie continued to add new solid foods to her diet, and developed a preference for foods which she can feed herself. One such food was a veggie mix, including her favorite peas. As we watched her we realized that every time she would eat her vegtables in color order: first green, then orange, finally yellow. In some ways, mealtimes have gotten easier as she can take more care of herself. But we did have to start putting the dogs (aka clean up crew) away during mealtimes. She learned how to attract them by dropping food that she doesn't want.

Recently, she started shaking her head. At first we weren't sure how she picked that up since we hardly ever use that to communicate "no," but it often coincided with an appropriate time for her to say "no." Then one day while feeding her, Brian, as is his tendency, shook his loose cheeks from side to side to make an entertaining sound. That's it! That's what she is trying to do. She seems to try one strange sound after another. I wonder where she gets it?

There was much debate this month as to whether or not she said her first word. She definitely babbled a lot, most frequently the "ma" sound. But we were not convinced she was using it solely in connection with her "Mama." It seemed like it might mean "mama," "milk" and/or "more."

At her 9 Month Well Baby Check Up, Magnolia weighed 19lbs, 9 oz (dropping to the 75th percentile) and was 27.75 inches (still 95th percentile!). As always, she was a busy little girl, exploring the exam room, until she saw a Monkey bearing quite a resemblence to her lovey Mona. She stopped, purposefully crawled to the Monkey and, standing in front of it, planted a big kiss on its drywall lips!

You may recognize our nurse, Tara, if you worked at Camp Firwood with us. It is fun to see her when we go in for our appointments, but she hates doing the dirty work. This is moments before a heel prick!***Note: Even though I am late posting this, the cupcakes and picture did happen on time. I also only included developments that happened before her 9 month birthiversary. Just wait for the 10 month post--lots of fun stuff!